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Global Research Update #39

Folaranmi et al., 2021: Knowledge and Menstrual Hygiene Practices among Adolescent Female Apprentices in Lagelu Local Government Area, Ibadan, Nigeria This study assessed knowledge and practices of menstrual hygiene among adolescent female apprentices in Lagelu Local Government area of Oyo state. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 421 female apprentices between the ages of 10-19years.  Although 77.4% were aware of menstruation before menarche, only 50.8% possessed good knowledge of menstruation. Hygiene knowledge was found to be very poor as only 22.6% correctly knew that menstrual blood comes from the uterus and 55.5% did not know the normal length of menstrual cycle. Factors significantly associated with knowledge of respondents included fathers’ and mothers’ level of education while those associated with practice included lack of private washing facilities for cloth and napkin, private disposal facilities for disposable absorbent materials and lack of menstrual hygiene education session. Provision of menstrual hygiene education by mothers and other relevant stakeholders as well as provision of cleaning facilities are key to improve menstrual hygiene practice of respondents.

Tags: MHM, MENSTRUAL EDUCATION

Country tag: NIGERIA

Ms. Sneh Gupta, Dr. Kulveen Trehan, 2021: Digital Advocacy By Non-Governmental Organizations For Menstrual Activism: A Framing Analysis Of #Lahukalagaan (Blood Tax) Campaign By Shesays India The present study looked at how a non-government organization, She Says, framed menstrual issues and policy change in their campaign #LahuKaLagaan (Blood Tax) directed against indiscriminate tax policy on menstrual hygiene in India. A qualitative framing analysis of the NGO’s Twitter handle was done from April 2017 to July 2018, along with in-depth interviews with advocacy specialists in India. Results show that the organization optimally utilized the three core framing techniques: diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames in their advocacy. NGO’s thrust on prognostic framing was new and made the campaign potent. Extensive use of themes like gender injustice, female identity, solidarity, participation, and action in framing the issue helped the organization transform its message into action, making #LahuKaLagaan an effective advocacy campaign.

Tags: Digital Advocacy, New Media, Menstrual Activism, Framing, Twitter, #LahuKaLagaan
Country tag: India

V. G., Jisha; Rupashree, R., and Somasundaram, T. (2021). Empirical Analysis on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP): Puberty and Menstrual Hygiene. This study on Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) aims to understand the awareness level of menstrual health and hygiene among adolescent girls, and the study also focuses on identifying the average age of attaining menarche among early adolescent girls and the problems associated with menstruation. To meet the above objective, a sample of 187 responses in  North Bangalore was collected by using questionnaires. The various statistical tools that have been used are Reliability Test, Correlation, Chi-square, and Linear Regression analysis. This paper also covers the feminist view on menstruation which affects women, girls, and non-binary and transgender people across the world.

Tags: KAP, Menstruation, Genital infections, Social stigma, Feminism

Country tag: India

Venugopal, V., Kumar, A.P., Shanmugam, R. et al. Sanitation access, behavior, and practices and their health and social implications for on-duty female police officials — a perceptional study in South India. Access to clean sanitation is closely linked to women’s dignity, health, and wellbeing, and lack of these is a significant concern. We explore the perceptions about the poor sanitation access for on-duty female police officials working at off-site locations and its implications with regard to their behavior, health, and social lives. Reduced access to clean sanitation facilities for on-duty female police officials has adverse implications on their toileting and hydration behavior, health, and social lives. Gender-sensitive policies and enhanced welfare facilities are needed to motivate and to obviate health and social risks for the female police force engaged in protecting the country’s citizens.

Tags: Female police officials, Hydration behavior, Sanitation facilities, Social impacts, Urinary tract infections

Country tag: India

Clement, Q’Ana K. (author); Heider, Gerti (chair); 2021  Impacts of menstrual hygiene management workshop on adolescent females with special needs This paper focuses on how the lack of educational resources for adolescent females with special needs and the misinformed perceptions of their menstrual health requiring a special program. Females with cognitive disabilities or impairments were unable to properly care for themselves while menstruating. The paper supports the interventions to educate girls about managing their menstrual hygiene. Health programs revolving around menstrual hygiene are becoming a global necessity as some parts of the world lack clean water and other resources needed to preserve menstrual health. Adolescent females with developmental disabilities are urgently in need of such programs. This intervention is of integral importance as females with various disabilities need to know about how best to navigate the uncertainties of adolescence and early adulthood. It is designed to promote better menstrual health as a vehicle for helping females experience a smooth transition into adulthood.

Tags: Special needs, MHM, education

Country tag: USA

Andrew R.  et al., 2021, Public restrooms, periods, and people experiencing homelessness: An assessment of public toilets in high needs areas of Manhattan, New York Access to safe, clean water and sanitation is globally recognized as essential for public health. Public toilets should be accessible to all members of a society, without social or physical barriers preventing usage. Challenges around menstruation faced by people experiencing homelessness, which tend to be greater than those facing the general population, include inadequate toilet and bathing facilities, affordability issues around menstrual products, and menstrual stigma. Public toilets are a vital resource for managing menstruation, particularly for vulnerable populations without reliable access to private, safe, and clean spaces and menstrual products. This mixed-methods study sought to: 1) understand the lived experiences of MHM among people experiencing homelessness in New York City with respect to public toilets; 2) describe general and MHM-related characteristics of public toilets in high need areas of Manhattan and analyze their interrelationships; and 3) examine the associations among neighborhood-level demographics and the public toilet characteristics in those areas. Qualitative methods included key informant interviews (n = 15) and in-depth interviews (n = 22) with people with experience living on the street or in shelters, which were analyzed using Malterud’s ‘systematic text condensation’ for thematic cross-case analysis. Quantitative methods included audits and analyses of public toilet facilities (n = 25) using traditional statistics (e.g., Spearman’s correlations) and spatial analyses (e.g., proximity buffers). Qualitative findings suggest cleanliness, access to restrooms, and availability of resources are critical issues for the participants or prospective users. Quantitative analyses revealed insufficiently provided, maintained, and resourced public toilets for managing menstruation in high-needs areas. Findings also suggest that toilets with more MHM-related resource availability, such as menstrual products and toilet stall disposal bins, were more difficult to access. Neighborhood-level characteristics showed a potential environmental injustice, as areas characterized by higher socioeconomic status are associated with more access to MHM-specific resources in public restrooms, as well as better overall quality.

Tags: Homelessness, MHM, public restroom

Country tag: USA

Bin Manjur et al., 2021, Educational Web Application for Young People to Raise Awareness on Menstruation Proper menstrual hygiene management is vital to the poise and strength of women and young ladies. In any case, it is a disregarded issue both in the overall individuals and health sectors, prompting an emergency of information, offices and hygienic practice. To eliminate the feminine cleanliness of the board issues and social issues, we present to you a web application to raise awareness among individuals about menstruation. This is essentially intended for the youthful ages to show them evidently. We have chiefly utilized PHP 7, HTML, C# and CSS for all coding and information putting away system. Word Press, Adobe Flash and Blender are utilized to do the animations, videos, design and other kinds of things. There will be interactive animation questions according to the child’s understanding. There will also be short fun quiz games, different methods of explanation for both boys and girls, options to ask questions from experts and many more things. This is also an attempt to normalize menstruation among people and to minimize taboos and misconceptions on this topic.

Tags: MHM, app, sexual education

Country tag: Bangladesh

Mirzaee et al., 2021, Barriers to Puberty Talk between Mothers and Daughters: A Qualitative Study The aim of the present study is to explain the barriers to puberty talk between mothers and daughters.In the present study, the conventional content analysis method was used. The present study was conducted from September 2018 to August 2019 in Iran. The study population consisted of mothers and adolescent girls. The data was collected using purposeful sampling method. The sample consisted of 4 mothers and 6 girls that were interviewed using semistructured interviews. Data collection continued until data saturation was achieved. Data analysis was conducted as described by Graneheim et al. using NVivo 11 software. In the present study, after exploring the views of the participants about barriers to puberty talk between mothers and daughters, one dominant theme emerged. Puberty talk is seen as an “inappropriate talk with a girl.” There were several subthemes, including “lack of mother’s awareness regarding the school role, the busy schedule of the mother, and the adoption of alternatives to mother’s talk with girls”. Different sociocultural factors affect puberty talk between mothers and adolescent.  It is important that mothers and policy makers take these barriers into account.

Tags: Puberty, mother and daughter

Country tag: Iran

M.A. Parker  et al., The menstrual disorder of teenagers (MDOT) study No 2: Period ImPact and Pain Assessment (PIPPA) tool validation in a large population based cross-sectional study of Australian teenagers, 2021.  A cross-sectional study gathering 1066 girls aged between 15 and 19 years, to validate the PIPPA (Period ImPact and Pain Assessment) self-screening tool for menstrual disturbance in teenagers, in Australia. A quantitative paper survey collected self-reports of menstrual bleeding patterns, typical and atypical symptoms, morbidities and interference with daily activities. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to examine associations between PIPPA questions. Generalised linear models compared total score and sub scores by validation criteria: pain, school absence and BMI. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the predictiveness of menstrual disturbance indicators by total PIPPA score. Reports of pain, interference and concern within the PIPPA items and between both the MDOT and PIPPA questionnaires were significantly correlated. The indicator ‘missing school’ was highly associated with pain and interference. Obesity was associated with higher PIPPA scores as was underweight. PIPPA is a valid screening tool for pain related menstrual disturbance that effects functioning in young women. PIPPA subdomains of pain/interference have good validity relative to indicators of pain and interference and are responsive to age, BMI and school absence differences.

Tags: Adolescence, Dysmenorrhea, Menstruation, Menstrual Disturbance, Endometriosis

Country tag : Australia

 

Karmi et al., 2021, Menstrual pattern, severity of dysmenorrhea and some related factors among female students of Shahrekord University in 2018 The study aimed to determine the pattern of dysmenorrhea, severity of dysmenorrhea, and some related factors in Shahrekord University female students. Material & Methods: In the cross-sectional study, the research population was all female students of Shahrekord University in the year 2018. 245 people were selected by cluster random sampling method and. Its validity was confirmed and VAS visual scale was collected. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: In terms of menstrual pattern, the mean age of the first menstrual period was 13.5±1, the majority of participants had regular menstruation, menstrual cycle duration was 21 to 42 days, and menstrual bleeding duration was 3-7 days. 82.8% of girls suffered from dysmenorrhea. There was a significant relationship between positive family history, menstrual irregularity, age at first menstruation, weight and symptoms of menstrual nausea, and severity of dysmenorrhea. Conclusion: The physical and mental health of female students is essential, considering the high prevalence and severity of dysmenorrhea and also its importance, which disrupts the daily activities of women and their quality of life and social activities, and also considering the important responsibilities of women, identifying patients to provide education and improve service delivery.

Tags: dysmenorrhea

Country tags: Iran

Thaman, et al., 2021, Menstrual hygiene awareness, management and challenges among adolescent girls in rural areas in Ambala, India The present study was undertaken to encourage articulation of needs and problems of adolescent school girls in rural areas in Ambala district, India, advancing good menstrual hygiene and generating evidence on menstrual hygiene awareness, management and challenges.This study was an observational cross-sectional study, conducted from July to September 2018, in two rural schools (school 1 and school 2) in Ambala, Haryana, India. A structured pre validated questionnaire was administered to the group of participating girl subjects of 11- 17 years; the questionnaire was explained to them, followed by a short animated film ‘Mythri’ in Hindi of 20 minutes imparting knowledge on MHM. The data was analyzed and the report was presented to the schools with recommendations. We observed better MHM facilities in school 2 than school 1. Provision of good infrastructure and MHM facilities in schools, reduces the absenteeism of girls during menstruation. A statistically significant difference in girl students absenteeism for an average of 2.15 (66.66%) days/ month in school 1, and an average of 1.44 (21.05%) days/month in school 2 is reported. Sanitary pads usage of 50%-83% girls is reported; this may probably be because of percolation of information and knowledge about good hygienic ways. Disposal of absorbent material still poses a big issue. Social taboos were reported by 84.44% girls in school 1 and by only 32.89% girls in school 2. Conclusions: The insights from our study suggests a better MHM education in schools to create more awareness, judicious allocation of resources in schools, providing better infrastructure and basic support to manage menses effectively and with dignity.

Tags: Menstrual hygiene management, Adolescent girls, Social taboos, Sanitary pads

Country tag:  India

Dr Anum Fatima, Pratap Bhan Kaushik, 2021 Menstrual Hygiene And Reproductive Health Knowlegde Among Late-Adolescent Girls At Urban Health Training Centre In Udaipur City,Rajasthan: A Cross Sectional Study India has largest adolescent population in world. Adolescent is characterized by significant physiological and psychological changes.. A cross sectional study was conducted in the month of october 2020 among late-adolescent girls who came to outdoor of an urban health training centre, udaipur to assess knowledge and awareness of late-adolescent girls regarding menstrual hygiene and reproductive health including contraception.160 such girls who came with guardian and gave consent were included.a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was used.Data was entered in ms excel2016 and analysed using spss.  Among 160 participants, 43% belonged to age group 15-17 years and 57% to 18-19 years.5% were married, all were literate.The main source of information for knowlegde about puberty were teachers(46.9%), although they wished to had knowledge from doctors(36.9%).They had good knowledge and practices for menstrual hygiene. Most of them were familiar with hiv(79.4%) but lacked indepth knowledge. Majority did not know about any other sexually transmitted diseases (67.5%). Among contraceptive methods, majority had knowledge about condoms (73%), and least about emergency contraceptive(26%). Participants had good menstrual habits but lack reproductive health knowledge.attempts to increase basic knowledge about menstruation and reproductive health through school curriculum or compulsory workshops,counselling ,community and parenteral communication is required;

Tags: Adolescent, Menstrual hygiene,Reproductive health,Knowledge

Country tag: India

Preeti, Vinod Kumari and Jatesh Kathpalia, 2021, Comparison of perceptions regarding menstruation among women of rural, urban and slum areas of Gurugram and Mewat The present study was conducted to ascertain the perceptions of women regarding menstruation from rural, urban and slum areas of Gurugram and Mewat district respectively. A total of240 respondents (40 each from rural Gurugram and Mewat, 40 each from urban Gurugram and Mewat and 40 each from slum area from Gurugram and Mewat) were surveyed with the help of a pre-designed questionnaire as per objectives. Weighted mean table were used to describe the study variables. The mean age at menarche was found to be 13.1 years and majority of respondents’ (70.8%) first reaction to menarche was fear and surprise. The pattern of menstrual cycle was found regular for 56.2% of respondents. Majority of respondents from Gurugram perceived menstruation as pubertal phenomenon with highest average weighted mean score of 2.75 whereas majority of respondents from Mewat perceived as cleansing of uterus and release of impure blood with highest average weighted mean score of 2.85. It was found that respondents had various perceptions regarding the physiological and emotional changes occur during menstruation. Back pain, abdominal pain and weakness were the most prominent physiological changes felt by the respondents while embarrassment, difficulty in concentrating and irritability were the most prominent emotional changes perceived by respondents. It was revealed by majority of respondents that menstruation affects their sleeping capacity with highest average weighted mean score of 2.37 in Gurugram and 2.39 in Mewat respectively. It is suggested that perceptions of respondent can be improved by raising their awareness and knowledge about menstruation in a scientific way.

Tags : Menstruation, menarche, perception, physiological, adolescent, comparison, Gurugram, Mewat

Country tag: India

Wilbur et al., 2021.  Are Nepal’s water, sanitation and hygiene and menstrual hygiene policies and supporting documents inclusive of disability? A policy analysis This study assesses the inclusion of disability in Nepal’s policy and guidance relevant to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in comparison to gender. We investigated both policy formulation and implementation, using the Kavrepalanchok district as a case study. Though the Constitution of Nepal enshrines gender equality and disability inclusion, there are consistent gaps in attention to disability and MHM in policies and practice. These omit and exclude people with disabilities from MHM interventions. Investment is required to generate evidence on the MHM barriers faced by people with disabilities, which would then be drawn on to develop training on these issues for professionals to improve understanding. Subsequently, policy makers could include more concepts of human rights against disability in relevant policies and service providers could implement policy commitments as intended.

Tags: Equiframe, Disability, Gender, Menstrual hygiene management, Policy analysis, Qualitative research

Country tag: Nepal

Nimble O J, Bibil Babu C, 2021,  Menstrual Health: What Have We Learned? This research explores the evidence about women’s awareness and attitude about menstrual health related problems and alternative and sustainable menstruation practices. This study was designed to explore the potential health physical and environmental benefits that can accrue by women with safe, affordable, and convenient materials, such as the menstrual cup, for menstrual management. Researcher collected primary data from 28 women using convenience sampling technique to understand awareness and attitude about women health issues. Researcher also collected primary data from 50 women using cluster sampling method to investigate attitudes and awareness towards sustainable menstruation practices and to an alternative menstrual product. The result showed positive reactions to an alternative menstrual product

Key words: PMS, Thyroid, Menstrual cup, sustainability, environmental hazards, health hazards

Country tag: India

 

Aino Koskenniemi, 2021, Say no to shame, waste, inequality—and leaks! Menstrual activism in the market for alternative period products For decades, advertisements for mainstream menstrual products have been criticised for upholding harmful menstrual taboos. Meanwhile, the range of alternative products has increased, and menstrual cups, discs, underwear, and cloth pads have become more easily available. This article examines how online promotional materials of alternative products relate to the menstrual taboo and other concerns raised by menstrual activists. Based on thematic analysis of seven websites selling alternative period products, the article shows how the companies function in a double bind typical for contemporary feminisms. While selling products meant to hide menstruation in a cultural environment that expects concealment, the sites discuss menstruation openly and declare periods as nothing shameful. The sites also support calls for fair access to products and education, advocate sustainability, and recognize the diversity of the menstrual experience. Yet, the companies also apply marketing language that stresses leak-prevention and discreetness. By doing so, they profit from the worries over leaks ingrained in menstruators by a culture of concealment. Furthermore, despite calls for openness, blood remains relatively invisible. The article discusses the results of the thematic analysis in relation to menstrual activism, and popular and postfeminism

Tags: Alternative period products; menstrual activism; menstrual movement; popular feminism; postfeminism

Country tag: Finland

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